Expert Speak: Why native ads are the future of app revenue?
Swarnendu De
July 15, 2015
Today we are going to have a great session on native ads and its use in the app industry as a whole. Is it an eminent way to generate app revenues?
Innofied has always tried to bring insights about the web and mobile industry through various articles and blog posts. Today marks the start of a new series called Expert Speak. In this, we will interview key people from the industry and listen to what their take is, on the matter.
Our first impromptu session starts off with George Makkoulis, Co-Founder of Avocarrot, a globally acclaimed native mobile ad solutions provider.
Native Ads Are the Future of App Revenue
Swarnendu: Let’s introduce you to our readers. Tell us about yourself, your background and role at Avocarrot.
George: Hey there! I’m George, one of the co-founders of Avocarrot and also Head of Publisher Partnerships. Over the last couple years, I’ve been working closely with mobile developers to increase their app revenue by integrating native advertising that matches accurately the look and feel of each app.
My background is in engineering and mobile app development, however, over the years I’ve been firing up my code editor less and less 🙂
Swarnendu: At Avocarrot, you provide Programmatic Native Ads for Developers. How is that different? What is your value proposition?
George: Native advertising is a relatively new concept that emerged to tackle a hard reality – traditional mobile advertising doesn’t work. Users don’t click on banners and developers cannot be rewarded for the countless hours and efforts they’ve put in designing beautiful apps.
With native ads, a developer has full flexibility and control on how and when the ads will be displayed to the users and armed with this new power, in-app advertising can now be baked in the user experience from the design phase of the app and with no need to be interruptive and intrusive.
Like any innovation, native advertising has a unique set of challenges with one being that is hard to scale. The almost infinite level of customization that is now available to the app developer can sometimes introduce a mismatch to the content various advertisers have created in different formats according to their own unique needs. Programmatic native advertising is the state-of-the-art solution for this challenge, where through a real-time bidding auction and industry-accepted standards, native ads can be used by app developers to make money at scale and in almost every country in the world.
Are Ads Annoying to Users?
Swarnendu: Ads are annoying; users do not like pop-ups or any other form of intrusive ads. Do you think it’s wise for a developer to make a living from mobile ad revenue OR an entrepreneur committing to run a business based on a mobile ads system?
George: Traditional mobile ads are indeed a huge annoyance for users, as apart from making the app look spammy they usually interrupt the normal user flow as well, just for the sake of being noticed. This UX nightmare will definitely be translated into low app revenue for developers that wish to make their living.
There are currently 2 main business models for monetizing a mobile app or game:
- a) IAP (in-app purchases)
- b) Mobile advertising
Each business model has its own strengths and weakness, so developers who are serious about app monetization will usually adopt a hybrid strategy that combines both IAP and mobile ads.
Swarnendu: Do you have any suggestion(s) for the developers in terms of UI/UX/development, that can increase ad revenue?
George: Experimentation and accumulated experience are key in the competitive app economy and there have been countless of successful app businesses that have been built on these premises.
One tip of advice we always give to app publishers integrating Avocarrot Native Ads is that they should always create their ad monetization strategy by having the user experience in mind. Advertising is by definition a game of numbers but developers should be careful not to cross the thin line that will cause their users to permanently abandon the app.
Who Can Make Revenue from Apps?
Swarnendu: Do you think any specific genre or category of apps has more potential when it comes to making money from ads? (If yes, then tell us which and how?)
George: To be completely honest, on the Avocarrot network we see apps having great revenue performance across the board and in many different categories. Obviously, each app category has a different audience and requires a different treatment and from our experience so far, the hardest vertical to monetize are the kid’s apps.
Swarnendu: That was great! Thank you.
So there you have it, folks. This interview sheds light on how native ads are constantly becoming an important factor in generating considerable revenue. It might just be the catalyst your app needs to start weaving that success story you’ve always wanted.
I certainly hope that it was a good read. As for any feedback or queries, scroll down and leave a comment.
Related Reads:
Expert Speak: Why Programmatic Native Ads Are the Future of App Revenue